


Life, After

by badritual



Series: Exchange Fic [49]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy, Star Wars: Shattered Empire
Genre: Character Ponders Their Own Mortality, Don't copy to another site, Established Relationship, Gen, Great Tree | Poe Dameron's Tree, Kissing, Multi, Post-Canon, Post-Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, Realizing You Have a Future After Spending Years Expecting Not to Survive, established polyamory, learning to live, what comes after the galactic civil war?
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-02 03:42:33
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23868460
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/badritual/pseuds/badritual
Summary: He had been a soldier, slept fitfully in his flightsuit, ready to jump into his starfighter at a second’s notice.He’d been prepared to die. It’s still hard-wired into him, he thinks.
Relationships: Poe Dameron/Finn/Rey
Series: Exchange Fic [49]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1705675
Comments: 15
Kudos: 64
Collections: May the 4th Be With You Star Wars Fanworks Exchange 2020





	Life, After

**Author's Note:**

  * For [halfeatenmoon](https://archiveofourown.org/users/halfeatenmoon/gifts).



> I set out fully intending to write "VICTORY HOOKUPS," but this happened instead. I hope you enjoy it, halfeatenmoon! 
> 
> I haven't read all the Poe Dameron comics, so this doesn't really take them into account. 
> 
> Thanks to my friend B for the quick beta! And thanks to the mods!

Poe’s almost surprised to find that the family homestead hasn’t changed much since the last time he saw his father. It hadn’t been a good visit; Kes had been adamant that Poe not join the Resistance effort and Poe, as headstrong then as he is now, wouldn’t hear of it. They’d spoken almost exclusively through crackling, static-filled holos and surreptitious notes scribbled on bits of flimsi and passed from hand to hand ever since. 

Poe’s really missed his father, and this place he’d spent most of his teenage years desperate to escape. 

“Oh!” Rey exclaims by his side.

Poe glances at her as he slips the strap of his travel bag off his shoulder and lets it slump in the grass. “What is it?”

“That tree!” Rey points to the old, gnarled tree that spreads its protective canopy over the Dameron homestead. “The Force is woven through its branches. I can see it!”

“That tree was a gift from Luke Skywalker,” Poe says, unable to help a small smile. 

He’d never met the famed Jedi himself, but his parents had told him many stories growing up. That tree was as much Luke’s legacy as it was his mother’s.

Finn emerges from the transport at Poe’s other arm and shields his eyes against the glare of the setting sun. “This’s where you grew up?”

“Yep. Yavin IV. The one and only,” Poe says, glancing first at Finn and then Rey. 

Their young faces are wide-eyed and open, full of wonder. And, not for the first time, Poe feels every bit his age. Why they’d agreed to come with him to see his father when they could be off gallivanting about the galaxy together, Poe isn’t quite sure. He’s happy for the company, though. 

“So, where is this legendary father you’ve spoken so much of,” Rey teases, nudging her elbow into Poe’s side. 

Poe glances toward the house. As if summoned by the Force, Kes steps outside onto the porch and squints against the sun. When he spots the three of them, his wrinkled face brightens and he starts waving to them.

“There,” Poe murmurs out of the corner of his mouth, pointing to his father. Grinning, Poe scoops up his travel bag and the three of them march in a single-file line for the Dameron house.

Kes waits for them, leaning on a cane carved out of gnarled wood. When they get to the house, Poe drops his bag and grabs his father in a big hug. Kes wraps his arms tightly around Poe and nearly lifts him off the ground.

“My big hero,” Kes says, letting Poe go. He glances past Poe to Finn and Rey. He holds out weathered hands to them. “You must be Finn and Rey.”

Poe watches as a smiling Rey takes one of Kes’s hands in hers. “It’s so wonderful to finally meet you,” she says.

Finn takes hold of Kes’s other hand and pumps it in an eager handshake. “Poe says you fought alongside Luke Skywalker and General Organa.”

Kes tuts modestly, though Poe can tell he’s pleased. “I did,” he says, the corners of his mouth turning upward in a smile. “I can regale you all with tales of my exploits. Over some freshly brewed caf, perhaps?”

Kes ushers Finn and Rey into the house, with Poe not far behind. He takes a moment, pausing and looking, cataloguing the canopy of trees that stretch protectively over the roof of his family home. The brightly colored flowers that dot the landscape. And, of course, the Force sensitive tree. 

Poe drops his bag and wanders over to the tree, placing a hand against its bark. It’s warm, though from the sun or something else, Poe can’t say. He’s not Force sensitive, not like Finn and Rey are, or his mother was. But he can feel things. Like the warmth of the Force that pulses through the tree that’s shaded his life for as long as he can remember. 

He traces his fingers over the grooves in the bark like a scribe tracing the nub of their pen across parchment. 

“You coming in?”

Poe looks up. His father stands in the doorway of their home, his big hands wrapped around a mug of caf. 

Poe retrieves his bag and heads inside.

* * *

“I hope you don’t mind,” Kes tells the three of them as they head to the back of the house, where the sleeping quarters are. “I’m sure you’re used to having your own bedchambers. It’s been just me for a long while now.”

Poe, Finn, and Rey share a silent conversation between the three of them with just their eyes. Finally, Poe clears his throat.

“It won’t be a problem, Dad,” he says.

Kes pauses in front of the room that had once been Poe’s. “I kept it as you left it, son,” he says, pushing the door open. 

Finn laughs, a bright happy sound. “So this’s your childhood bedroom, huh?” he asks, going over and setting his bag on a slouchy stuffed chair. Finn looks around him, eyes skipping over the many posters that line the walls before his eyes come to rest on one particular poster.

Leia Organa gazes down at them from her lofty heights, her hands clasped primly at her waist. She’s dressed in victory white, her hair piled atop her head in an ornate braided crown. The Yavinian printed at the bottom exhorts, “Join Princess Leia. Join the Rebellion. Take back your Galaxy.”

Rey gazes at the poster, a smile curling her lips. She reaches out and touches the glossy image. “I miss her.”

“As do I,” Kes says from the doorway. He pauses, going still and pensive for a moment, before stuttering back to life. “She gave her life to…”

“Yes,” Poe says, glancing at his father. He reaches out for him, clasping his shoulder tightly. “She saved us.”

Kes presses his lips together, nostrils flaring, and Poe realizes his father is trying not to cry. He hasn’t seen tears fill Kes’s eyes since the day they buried Shara with a sprig of the Force sensitive tree in her hands.

Kes coughs, clears his throat, and wipes his eyes on the sleeve of his tunic. “I was proud to serve alongside her,” he says, low and mumbly, so low Poe has to strain to hear his words. “I’ll go put dinner on the fire. You three relax. You’ve earned it.”

Before Poe can offer to help, Kes turns and shuffles back down the hall. 

Rey settles on the end of the bed, folding her legs under her body. “This house is so full of love,” she says, with an almost dreamy sigh. “Happiness. Not at all like the old Skywalker homestead. Not that they didn’t love each other, of course. But sorrow was baked into the bricks that built the place. Here, I feel some sorrow. But mostly just love.”

Finn settles on the floor and pulls his knees to his chest. “What made you leave this place?” he asks Poe.

Poe glances back at the two of them, who look at him expectantly. “I…” Here, he falters.

Poe wants to tell them that he doesn’t know why he left, but that would be a lie and he’s certain they’d know the moment the words spilled off his tongue. Finn and Rey grew up with nothing, no family to surround them as Poe had. Even after he lost his mother, he still had Kes. He doesn’t want to seem ungrateful, like he hadn’t appreciated what he had. 

He sighs, scrubs his hands through his curls, twisting them in his fingers for a moment before letting them go. 

“I felt like there was something more out there, for me,” he explains, as he paces in front of them, hands shoved into his pockets. “I was the child of war heroes. I was expected to join the New Republic flight academy. And I wanted to. I knew I’d be good at it. But…” 

He thinks about Zorii now. Their skirmishes over the years, before he’d worked the restlessness out of his system and done what needed to be done.

“I don’t know,” Poe says. “I was impulsive then—”

“Still are,” Finn interrupts, cheeks dimpling with a grin. 

Poe laughs and settles next to him on the floor, with a weary sigh. “I was always kind of rebellious as a kid.”

“You say that as if you aren’t anymore,” Rey huffs.

“Jedi.” Poe scoffs showily. 

“Simple observation,” Finn counters, leaning against Poe’s shoulder. 

“Does your father know…” Rey slides off the bed to settle in against Poe’s other side. “About us?”

“I haven’t said anything yet,” Poe admits. “I don’t know how he’d take it.”

“I’m sure he’d just be happy _you’re_ happy,” Finn says, sliding his hand over Poe’s, lacing their fingers together.

Rey rests her cheek against Poe’s shoulder. “I like it here. I feel safe here.”

“Good,” Poe says, pressing a soft kiss against her forehead. He turns his head, brushes his lips against Finn’s lightly. “I’m glad.”

“We could make a home here,” Finn says. “The three of us.”

Poe lets himself think about that. About an _after_ , with Finn and Rey. He’s spent so long—nearly half his life, really—thinking about war, that he isn’t sure what to do with the sense of freedom that’s threatened to overwhelm him since it all ended. He had been a soldier, slept fitfully in his flightsuit, ready to jump into his starfighter at a second’s notice. 

He’d been prepared to die. It’s still hard-wired into him, he thinks. 

Poe had spent so long preparing himself to die and now he has to learn how to live. 

It seems too hard, sometimes. Sometimes he hadn’t minded not thinking about the future. Now he has all the time in the world to think. 

“I’d like that,” he says, tightening his hand over Finn’s. He reaches for Rey’s hand too, squeezing it in his own, dragging his thumb over her callused knuckles.

“We have all the time in the world,” Rey says quietly, her breath puffing lightly against Poe’s cheek. 

“That’s the hard part,” Poe admits. “What do we do with all this time?”

“We find ways to fill it up,” Finn says. “With the people we love.”

Poe’s not sure if now’s a good time to admit he never saw himself surviving this war. He’d imagined himself burning out like a dead star, flaring into a supernova over some distant planet. He’d run over all the different ways he might not make it back from the fight. Poe had never really allowed himself to imagine a life after wartime. 

Finn leans in then, his breath smelling lightly of Kes’s caf. His lips, when they slide over Poe’s, are soft and warm and familiar. Poe reaches up, cupping Finn’s chin in his hand as he sips at his lips.

He feels Rey shuffle closer and he turns, breaking the kiss with Finn to press his lips against hers also. She kisses differently than Finn, more teeth, not as sweet, though no less enjoyable. She kisses urgently, fiercely, like she’s afraid they might be taken away from her, her body tensed and coiled. 

There’s a soft sigh from the doorway and the three of them draw apart. Kes leans in the doorway, offering them an apologetic smile. 

“Supper’s ready,” he says, eyes glittering. “Sorry to interrupt.”

Poe feels his cheeks flush, though he does nothing to address the metaphorical bantha in the room. Finn adjusts his leather vest while Rey fusses with her hair, tucking flyaway strands into her buns.

Pushing himself to his feet, he goes over and gives his father a clap on the shoulder. “Thanks, Dad. We’ll be right out.”

Poe turns to slide past his father for the ’fresher, but Kes catches his hand. 

“Are you happy?” he asks in a low tone.

“I think so,” Poe says, before reconsidering. He gives his father a brief nod. “I am.”

Kes’s small smile widens into a broad grin. One Poe saw a lot of as a child, before they lost Shara. He saw it far less frequently after, though Kes never stopped smiling completely. 

“Good, then,” Kes says. “Hold onto it, Poe. Fight for it.”

Poe’s eyes sting and there’s a sudden tightness in his throat as memories of his mother—memories that had been carelessly picked through and turned over by Kylo Ren—flood to the surface. 

A memory of his parents, fingers laced, swaying to faint music as a light breeze stirred the curtains around them. 

A memory of his mother, bouncing him in her lap while Kes watched over them. 

Poe toddling to the Force sensitive tree and trying to pull leaves off the branches before Shara gently scolded him. 

He realizes what the memories mean, though deep down he’s always known. His parents had made a life together after the war ended. They’d been very happy, at least for a little while. And he can have that too, with Finn and Rey.

“I will,” Poe promises his father, turning to look back at Finn and Rey. 

They don’t even realize he’s watching them, lost deep in a conversation, their foreheads pressed together. Finn reaches up to brush a curl of hair away from Rey’s face.

“You’ve found a wonderful thing,” Kes says, sounding fond. “Like your mother and I.”

Rey and Finn look up, their smiles warming Poe like the sun. 

“I know, Dad. I know.”


End file.
